KR102588556B1 - A device containing a display and a camera on the same optical axis - Google Patents

Abstract

The device includes a display. A display contains groups of pixels. The bottom and sides of each pixel group are covered with an anti-reflective material. Pixel groups are electrically connected together with transparent conductive wires. The camera is located below the display. The camera is configured to detect light passing through the display.

Description

A device containing a display and a camera on the same optical axis

Electronic devices include devices that have both a camera and a display. In some of these electronic devices, the camera is placed below the display.

This document describes techniques, methods, systems, and other mechanisms to reduce image quality degradation caused by displays on top of a camera. Placing a camera below the display can be highly desirable in many consumer electronics products. For example, a camera behind the display could allow for full-screen display in electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and TVs.

However, the image quality of the camera behind the display can be significantly negatively affected by the display's structure. Some major issues with a camera's image quality that arise due to the display structure can include light diffraction, light reflection, and transmission loss. All of these issues can translate into reduced image resolution, haze, ghost images, reduced image signal-to-noise ratio, and flare.

The device can reduce light reflection by covering the bottom and sides of a group of pixels with anti-reflective material and joining the pixels with transparent () conductive wiring. Covering the bottom and sides of a pixel group with an anti-reflective material can avoid light reflection from the pixel, and using transparent conductive interconnects can avoid light reflection from metal interconnects. Combining pixels with transparent conductive wiring can also reduce light diffraction caused by the wiring.

Additionally or alternatively, the device may reduce image quality degradation by reducing transmission losses. For example, a device may reduce pixel density over a small local area of the display above the camera to increase the effective camera aperture size.

One innovative aspect of the subject matter described herein is implemented in a device including a display including groups of pixels, the bottom and sides of each pixel group being covered with an anti-reflective material, the pixel groups having transparent conductive wiring and underneath the display. It is electrically connected with a positioned camera, and the camera is configured to detect light passing through the display. Another embodiment of this aspect includes a corresponding display including groups of pixels, wherein the bottom and sides of each pixel group are covered with an anti-reflective material, and the pixel groups are electrically connected together with transparent conductive wires.

The above-described embodiments and other embodiments may each optionally include one or more of the following features alone or in combination. For example, in some embodiments the side of each pixel group extending vertically from the bottom is completely covered with an anti-reflective material. In certain aspects, each pixel group includes four sides extending vertically. In some implementations, the anti-reflective material is colored black. In some embodiments, the anti-reflective material absorbs at least 80% of the light incident on the anti-reflective material.

In certain aspects, the wires are arranged such that rows of pixel groups alternate between including wires extending in a horizontal direction and not containing wires extending in a horizontal direction. In some implementations, the wires are arranged such that rows of pixel groups alternate between containing wires extending in a vertical direction and containing no wires extending in a vertical direction.

In some aspects, the wires extend vertically from a group of pixels in a row without wires extending in a horizontal direction to a group of pixels in a row without wires extending in a horizontal direction from a group of pixels in a row with wires extending in a horizontal direction. They are arranged to be electrically coupled together by wiring. In certain aspects, the camera aperture area of the display includes transparent conductive lines and the remainder of the display includes opaque conductive lines that electrically connect different groups of pixels in the display.

In some implementations, the camera aperture area includes a portion of the display through which light passing directly through is detected by the camera. In some aspects, the device does not include a polarizer over the display. In certain aspects, the pixel density of the camera aperture area of the display is lower than the pixel density of the remainder of the display. In some implementations, groups of pixels are arranged in a diamond pattern.

In some implementations, the camera includes an upper barrel diameter that is smaller than the diameter of the camera's image sensor. In certain aspects, each pixel group has rounded corners. In some aspects, each pixel group is shaped as a square. In some implementations, each pixel group includes one red pixel, one blue pixel, and two green pixels.

Details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects and advantages will be apparent from the description, drawings and claims.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a device that reduces image quality degradation caused by a display located above a camera.
Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram of a display including transparent conductive wiring to reduce image quality degradation.
Figure 3 is a conceptual diagram of a display including an anti-reflective material to reduce image quality degradation.
4 is a conceptual diagram of a display including wires arranged to reduce image quality degradation.
Like reference numerals in the various drawings represent like elements.

Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram of a device 100 that reduces image quality degradation caused by a display over a camera. Device 100 includes a display 110 and a camera 122. Display 110 is positioned above camera 122 so that light that is sensed by camera 122 and generates an image passes through display 110. For example, camera 122 may have a view of a scene containing a ball, light reflected from the ball may pass through display 110, and light passing through display 110 may It may be detected by a camera 122, and the camera 122 may generate an image based on the light detected by the camera.

Figure 1 shows that the ball image generated by camera 122 still has some image degradation due to the ball edges of the image being blurrier than the actual edges of the ball. For example, a wavy line passing through display 110 to camera 122 represents how light experiences interference from display 110, resulting in image degradation.

Typically, displays on cameras can cause image degradation through light diffraction, light reflection, and transmission loss. Light diffraction can be due to very small display pixel features, such as the spacing between pixels and the spacing between wires connecting pixels. Light diffraction can result in loss of image resolution and reduction in contrast, for example by a haze layer.

Light reflection may be due to highly reflective materials such as metal wiring. Impacts on image quality can be ghost images and image flare. Transmission loss can be caused by dense pixel structures (e.g. pixels, metal wires, etc.) on top of the camera that block light from reaching the camera.

Transmission loss can result in a significant reduction in effective camera aperture. Reducing the effective camera aperture can affect image quality through reduced image signal-to-noise, which can further reduce resolution and increase image noise, i.e. grainy images.

Device 100 can reduce light diffraction through different methods. First, the device 100 may include transparent (transparent) conductive material as display pixel wiring. For example, the device 100 may use a transparent conductive film made of indium tin oxide to electrically connect pixels. A transparent conductive material may be used globally throughout the entire display 110 .

In another implementation, a transparent conductive material may be used for wiring locally on portions of display 110 through which light reaching camera 122 may pass, which portions may also be referred to as camera aperture areas. and metal wiring may be used in other parts of the display 110. For example, if the camera lens has a diameter of 1 millimeter, is 1 millimeter from the outer surface of display 110 facing outside of device 110, and captures light at an angle of up to 45 degrees, then the camera of display 110 The aperture area may be a circular portion of display 110 with a diameter of 2 millimeters centered directly over the center of the camera lens. The use of transparent conductive materials for wiring is explained in more detail below with respect to FIG. 2 .

Second, device 100 may locally reduce pixel density to increase pixel pitch size. For example, display 110 may have a lower pixel density for a camera aperture area of display 110 compared to other areas of display 110. Locally reducing pixel density can allow the effective camera aperture to become larger.

Third, device 100 may have pixel positions locally configured to maximize the camera aperture size. For example, display 110 may configure pixels in the camera aperture area of display 110 in a diamond pattern of 111 pixels per inch instead of the 222 pixels per inch grid pattern used in the remaining area of display 110. You can.

Fourth, the device 100 may have pixels configured in a random pattern. Randomizing pixels can result in diffraction patterns that appear as random noise instead of structured noise. Human vision can be much less sensitive to random noise than to structured noise.

Device 100 can reduce light diffraction through different methods. First, anti-reflective material can be used to cover the bottom and sides of the pixels in the display. For example, a black anti-reflective mask can be applied to the bottom and sides of a group of pixels to block light from reflecting off the bottom and sides. The use of anti-reflective material to cover pixels is described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 3 .

Second, device 100 may include transparent conductive wires instead of metal routing traces. For example, as described above with respect to reducing light diffraction, the wiring between pixels can be made of a transparent conductive film.

Device 100 may reduce transmission loss through different methods. First, display 110 may use a lower pixel density in the camera aperture area and a higher pixel density in remaining areas of display 110. Using a lower pixel density in the camera aperture area can increase the effective camera aperture size.

Second, camera 120 may include camera lenses with an upper barrel diameter that reduces the size of the camera aperture area. For example, the upper barrel diameter of the camera lens may be smaller than the diameter of the camera's image sensor. Reducing the size of the camera aperture area may reduce the impact on the user due to having a lower pixel density in the camera aperture area of the display 110.

Third, device 100 may not have a polarizer on top of display 110. Omitting the polarizer can increase light transmission to the camera 120 by about 50% compared to including the polarizer. Fourth, the device can use camera lenses with a low F-number to capture more light. The F value refers to the ratio of the camera's focal length and the camera's entrance pupil diameter. Fifth, the camera 120 may include an image sensor with a large pixel size to increase camera sensitivity compared to an image sensor with a small pixel size.

Device 100 may use one or more of the following methods for light diffraction, light reflection, and transmission loss. For example, device 100 may include a first and second way to reduce light diffraction and only a third way to reduce transmission loss. In other examples, device 100 may include all of the approaches described above to reduce light diffraction, light reflection, and transmission loss. In another example, device 100 may use the first approach to reduce light diffraction and use only the first and second approaches to reduce light reflection.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a display 200 including transparent conductive wiring to reduce image quality degradation. Display 200 may be display 110 shown in FIG. 1 or may be another display. As shown in FIG. 2, the display 200 includes pixel groups 210A-210O electrically connected together by wires extending in the horizontal direction 220A-E and wires extending in the vertical direction 220F-H. ) includes.

As shown in FIG. 2, pixel groups 210I, 210K, 210L, 210N, and 210O are included in the camera aperture area 230 and the remaining pixel groups are not included. Since light passing through the camera aperture area 230 may fall on the camera's image sensor, the wiring of the pixel groups (210I, 210K, 210L, 210N, 210O) is transparent to reduce light diffraction and light reflection from the wiring. It can be made of conductive material. The remaining wires may be metal because light diffraction and light reflection from wires that are not in the camera aperture area 230 are unlikely to be detected by the camera. Alternatively, all wiring of the display 200 may be formed of transparent conductive material.

Each pixel group may include a single red pixel that displays red, a single blue pixel that displays blue, and two green pixels that display green. However, display 200 may include pixel groups having pixels that display different colors and different numbers of each color pixel.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a display 300 including an anti-reflective material to reduce image quality degradation. Display 300 may be display 110 shown in FIG. 1 or may be another display. As shown in Figure 3, the display includes a substrate 340 holding the pixel groups 310A-C in place, an anti-reflective material 320A-C covering the bottom and four sides of the corresponding pixel groups, and Includes wiring 330.

Figure 3 illustrates how light incident on the anti-reflective material 320C is no longer reflected to the camera below the display 300, while light not incident on the anti-reflective material passes through the display 300 to the camera. The non-reflective material 320A-C may be a black colored material. Materials colored black may reflect less light than materials of other colors. Additionally or alternatively, anti-reflective material 320A-C may absorb 70%, 80%, 90%, or some other amount of light incident on anti-reflective material 320A-C.

The bottom of a pixel group may refer to the part of the pixel group that faces the camera, and the side of the pixel group may refer to the part of the pixel group that faces another pixel group. The sides of each pixel group extend vertically from the bottom of the pixel group. The vertical direction may refer to the direction extending from the camera to the surface of the display.

The sides of each pixel group may be entirely covered with anti-reflective material. Alternatively, a portion of each side of a group of pixels may be covered with an anti-reflective material. For example, the side portion of the pixel group 310A-C below the wire 330 may be covered, but the side portion not under the wire 330 may not be covered.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a display 400 including wires arranged to reduce image quality degradation. Display 400 may be display 110 shown in FIG. 1 or may be another display. The display 400 includes rows of pixel groups including wires extending in the horizontal direction (410A-C) (also referred to as horizontal batons electrically connecting pixel groups of the rows) and horizontal wires extending in the horizontal direction. Contains groups of pixels arranged to alternate between containing and not containing pixels.

Each row of pixel groups that do not contain a horizontal wire is instead connected by both a horizontal wire through the row already containing a horizontal wire and a vertical wire to the row already containing a horizontal wire. Horizontal and vertical interconnections for rows of pixel groups that do not contain horizontal interconnections are indicated by dotted lines 420A and 420B.

Arranging the wires to skip every other row results in a larger aperture between pixel groups. For example, as shown in Figure 1. While an aperture is formed between groups of four pixel groups, in FIG. 4, an aperture is formed between groups of six pixel groups. Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations pixel groups may have rounded corners and/or may be square in shape to reduce the size of each pixel group.

Similar to what was described above, in some implementations, arranging the wires to skip every other row may be performed only for rows that contain groups of pixels in the camera aperture region. In another implementation, arranging the wires to skip every other row may be performed globally across the entire display 400.

Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations, a display may be configured such that a row of pixel groups includes a vertically extending wire (also referred to as a vertical wire electrically connecting the pixel groups of the row) and a vertically extending vertical wire. It may include groups of pixels arranged to alternate between those containing no wiring.

Several implementations are detailed above, but other modifications are possible. Additionally, other mechanisms may be used to perform the systems and methods described herein. Additionally, the logic flow depicted in the figures does not require the specific order or sequential order shown to achieve the desired results. Other steps may be provided or steps may be removed from the described flow, and other components may be added or removed from the described system. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Although this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specified in particular embodiments. Certain features described herein in relation to separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination. Moreover, although features may be described above and even initially claimed as operating in a particular combination, one or more features of a claimed combination may in some cases be eliminated from the combination and the claimed combination may be modified from a sub-combination or sub-combination. It can refer to transformation. Thus, although specific embodiments of the subject matter have been described. These and other embodiments may fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (20)

As a device,
A display comprising groups of pixels,
The bottom and sides of each pixel group are covered with anti-reflective material,
Pixel groups are electrically connected together with transparent conductive wiring; and
A device comprising a camera positioned below a display, wherein the camera is configured to detect light passing through the display. According to paragraph 1,
A device characterized in that all sides of each pixel group extending vertically from the bottom are covered with an anti-reflective material. According to paragraph 1,
A device characterized in that each pixel group includes four sides extending in a vertical direction. According to paragraph 1,
A device characterized in that the non-reflective material is colored black. According to paragraph 1,
A device wherein the anti-reflective material absorbs at least 80% of the light incident on the anti-reflective material. According to paragraph 1,
The wiring is
A device characterized in that rows of pixel groups are arranged to alternate between including wiring extending in the horizontal direction and not including wiring extending in the horizontal direction. According to paragraph 1,
The wiring is,
A device characterized in that the rows of pixel groups are arranged to alternate between including lines extending in a vertical direction and not including lines extending in a vertical direction. According to paragraph 1,
The wiring is,
A pixel group in a row without a wire extending in the horizontal direction is a pixel group in a row without a wire extending in the vertical direction from a pixel group in a row with a wire extending in the horizontal direction, and is joined together by a wire extending in the vertical direction. A device characterized in that it is arranged to be electrically connected. According to paragraph 1,
A device wherein the camera aperture area of the display includes transparent conductive wires, and the remaining areas of the display include opaque conductive wires that electrically connect different groups of pixels of the display. According to clause 9,
A device wherein the camera aperture area includes portions of the display through which light passing directly through is detected by the camera. According to paragraph 1,
A device characterized in that the device does not include a polarizer on the display. According to paragraph 1,
A device wherein the pixel density of the camera aperture area of the display is lower than the pixel density of the remainder of the display. According to paragraph 1,
A device characterized in that pixel groups are arranged in a diamond pattern. According to paragraph 1,
A device wherein the camera includes an upper barrel diameter that is smaller than the diameter of the image sensor within the camera. According to paragraph 1,
A device in which each pixel group has rounded edges. According to paragraph 1,
A device characterized in that each pixel group has a square shape. According to paragraph 1,
A device wherein each pixel group includes one red pixel, one blue pixel, and two green pixels. delete delete delete